27 July 2013

This month sees the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Kursk, so I have been reading a little, and thought I'd share some info distilled from the internet:Order of Battle Kursk: Part 1 The German Forces

The Protagonists

The Germans' goal during
Citadel was to pinch off a large salient in the Eastern Front that extended 70
miles toward the west.

Field Marshal Günther von
Kluge's Army Group Center would attack from the north flank of the bulge, with
Colonel General Walther Model's Ninth Army leading the effort, General Hans
Zorn's XLVI Panzer Corps on the right flank and Maj. Gen. Josef Harpe's XLI
Panzer Corps on the left.

General Joachim Lemelsen's
XLVII Panzer Corps planned to drive toward Kursk and meet up with Field Marshal
Erich von Manstein's Army Group South, Col. Gen. Hermann Hoth's Fourth
Panzer Army and the Kempf Army, commanded by General Werner Kempf.

Opposing the German forces were
the Soviet Central Front, led by General Konstantin K. Rokossovsky, and the
Voronezh Front, led by General Nikolai F. Vatutin.

The Central Front, with the
right wing strengthened by Lt. Gen. Nikolai P. Pukhov's Thirteenth Army and Lt.
Gen. I.V. Galinin's Seventeenth Army, was to defend the northern sector.

To the south, the Voronezh Front faced the
German Army Group South with three armies and two in reserve. The Sixth Guards
Army, led by Lt. Gen. Mikhail N. Chistyakov, and the Seventh Guards Army, led
by Lt. Gen. M. S. Shumilov, held the center and left wing.

East of Kursk, Col. Gen. Ivan
S. Konev's Steppe Military District (renamed Steppe Front on July 10, 1943) was
to hold German breakthroughs, then mount the counteroffensive.

Grammatical note: "ß " is the German letter for the double "s "sound : "ss"; not pronounced as a "B"I.e. It was General Walter Weiß (Weiss: (White); not Weib (which is Wife)

Part 1German Commanders

Army Group Centre
(Günther von Kluge)

§2nd Panzer Army (Erich-Heinrich Clößner)

§9th Army (Walther Model)

§2nd Army (Walter Weiß)

§4 Army Group Reserve

Army Group South
(Erich von Manstein)

§4th Panzer Army (Hermann Hoth)

§Army Detachment Kempf (Werner Kempf)

§Army Group Reserve

Luftwaffe

Luftflotte 4 (4th Air Fleet: Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen)

VIII Fliegerkorps (8th Air Corps)

Luftflotte 6 (6th Air Fleet: Robert Ritter von Greim)

1. Flieger Division (1st Air Division)

ARMY GROUP CENTRE

(GÜNTHER VON KLUGE)

2nd Panzer Army

(Erich-Heinrich
Clößner)

XXXV Corps

(Lothar Rendulic)

34th Infantry Division

LIII Corps (Friedrich Gollwitzer)

208th Infantry Division

25th Panzergrenadier Division

LV Corps
(Erich Jaschke)

110th Infantry Division

9th Army (Walther Model)

XX Corps
(Rudolf Freiherr von Roman)

45th Infantry Division

XLVI Panzer Corps (Hans Zorn)

7th Infantry Division

102nd Infantry Division

258th
Infantry Division

XLI Panzer Corps (Josef Harpe)

18th Panzer Division

86th Infantry Division

292nd Infantry Division

XLVII Panzer
Corps (Joachim Lemelsen)

2nd Panzer Division

9th Panzer Division

20th Panzer Division

6th Infantry Division

XXIII Corps (Johannes Frießner)

216th Infantry Division

78th Assault Division

Army Reserve

4th Panzer Division

10th Panzergrenadier Division

12th Panzer Division

2nd Army (Walter Weiß)

VII Corps (Ernst-Eberhard Hell)26th
Infantry Division

68th
Infantry Division

75th
Infantry Division

88th
Infantry Division

XIII Corps
(Erich Straube)

82nd Infantry Division

327th Infantry Division

340th Infantry Division

Army Group
Reserve

5th Panzer Division

8th Panzer Division

ARMY
GROUP SOUTH

(ERICH
VON MANSTEIN)

4th Panzer
Army

(Hermann
Hoth)

II Corps
(Eugen Ott)

57th Infantry Division

255th Infantry Division

332nd Infantry Division

XLVIII
Panzer Corps (Otto von Knobelsdorff)

3rd Panzer
Division

11th Panzer
Division

Panzergrenadier Division Großdeutschland

167th Infantry Division

II SS Panzer Corps (Paul Hausser)

1st SS Panzergrenadier Division
Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler

2nd SS Panzergrenadier Division Das Reich

3rd SS Panzergrenadier Division
Totenkopf

Army Detachment Kempf (Werner Kempf)

III Panzer Corps (Hermann Breith)

6th Panzer Division

7th Panzer Division

19th Panzer Division

168th Infantry Division

XI Army Corps (Erhard Raus)

106th Infantry Division

320th Infantry Division

XLII Corps (Franz Mattenklott)

39th Infantry Division

161st Infantry Division

282nd Infantry Division

Army Group Reserve

XXIV Panzer Corps (Walter Nehring)

5th SS Panzergrenadier Division Wiking

17th Panzer Division

Luftwaffe

Luftflotte 4 (4th Air Fleet)

Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen, Commander in
chief

Otto Deßloch, Chief
of staff - Air support for Army Group South

VIII Fliegerkorps
(8th Air Corps)

Luftflotte 6 (6th Air Fleet)

Robert Ritter von
Greim as commander in chief and Friedrich Kless as chief of staff

About Me

Wargamer, History and Aircraft Nut, plastic and metal modeler, have been converting and painting for decades. Plane and birdwatcher, boatie, scuba and free diver, fisherman, foodie, music, wine and nature lover and photographer.

I blog on my hobbies: Warlord's Bolt Action and Konflikt 47, Saga, 20mm Flames of War rules, Warhammer 8th Ed Fantasy Battles/9th Age, History and its current relevance, the better things in life and the things that recharge my battery after a day at the coalface.